I don't know a lot about Homeland Integrated Security Systems, other than the fact that their name seems a bit foolish and opportunistic and that they make a product called the Cyber Tracker that's a GPS-based fleet management tool. There are some security applications, sure, and I think there's a resell opportunity for both the integrator and the central station, but that's mostly irrelevant to what I'm interested in here.
What I like is their new ROI calculator. It's just the way to use the web, much like IQinVision's "pixels per foot" tool, for example. Get people using your web site to help solve their problems, not just find contact information and read product specs. Here, with the ROI tool, you fill in the number of vehicles in your fleet, what you're paying in gas, etc., and the calculator shows how much you'll save with the Cyber Tracker.
For dealers, this would be a place to send your end users: "Wow. I'm going save $1,000 a day and only pay $500 a day? That's a no brainer."
Whether the ROI calculator is accurate or not is another question. You sort of have to take their word for it. Still, if you can get something like this going on your site (and it's pretty simple to set up), or encourage your vendor partners to get it going on their sites, it's a very helpful thing to have. Selling biometric access control? Why not an ROI calculator showing how much will be saved in not having to invest in smart cards (or cards of any kind, if you go with single authentication)? Selling HD cameras? Have a calculator that shows how many analog cameras will be negated and show how one more expensive camera is actually cheaper than x number of inexpensive cameras.
ROI right now is the crucial sell. Yes, keeping people safe remains important, but in this climate, if you can show the cost-benefit comes out in their favor in real-dollar terms, that's huge.

This seems interesting. Network World has released its "10 IT security companies to watch" list for 2008. Now, one would think that "IT security companies" are companies that provide IT security - protecting the network, spam filtering, firewall stuff, that kind of thing. However, there's notably a few companies that I would consider physical-security companies. What makes them IT? Let's look.
First up is at the top of the list, BRS Labs. I wrote about them when they launched back in September.
Focus: AISight is video-analytics technology that can convert images captured by a camera into machine-readable output that provides real-time intelligence about the surveillance to generate an alert.
Why it's worth watching: As use of video-monitoring grows, business and government may want to automate surveillance to be warned of unexpected events. AISight can be used with existing video-monitoring systems.
Um, yeah. Don't a lot of companies do this sort of thing? It may be true that BRS can do some things (learn, basically) that other analytics companies can't, but you wouldn't know that from this write up. So why does Network World single them out?
How company got its start: Founder Ray Davis saw a gap in the effectiveness of video surveillance systems and backed a team of scientists working on artificial-intelligence recognitions systems for video.
How company got its name: The BRS artificial-intelligence technology uses adaptive learning to anticipate behavior based on knowledge it accumulates over time.
CEO: Davis is an entrepreneur involved in technology start-ups from the '90's, including SimDesk, CyNet and OnDisk.
Ah-ha. Because Davis if one of their own. This is interesting to note. Because "IT" has come to mean "wicked smart guys," and IT publications are inherently the ones who've created this glow around IT guys, physical security companies with executives with IT backgrounds will get bonus points from these kinds of publications, but also from IT directors who are part of security buys much more often now.
Here's the next one, Envysion. We're written about them here and here. I like this company's model, and I think video as a service is a great RMR generator for integrators. But how is it "IT security"? It's the classic physical security solution of preventing theft and damage and physical harm, like any CCTV system, it's just done remotely and over the network.
Focus: Its managed video-surveillance services include installation of cameras in business locations, then remotely managing them through the Denver-based data center. Envysion can also enable detection of theft through correlating sales data generated electronically through cash registers and bar-coding with video-surveillance recordings of activity.
Why it's worth watching: IP-based digital-surveillance systems are becoming more popular in business, but not every organization wants to install and manage them. Envysion's approach provides businesses with a managed service that has Internet and Web-based access to live and stored video feeds.
Again, other companies do this. We wrote about another company getting into it just this month. Maybe they're the best at it. Maybe they're not. But why did Network World take notice?
How company got its start: The company, now with 35 employees, was founded by CEO Matt Steinfort, Chairman Dan Caruso and CTO Rob Hagens. All were formerly with Level 3 Communications, where they saw growth in business video surveillance occurring and became convinced a managed service would prove popular.
Yep. They're "IT guys," so, smarter than everyone else. Still, they do have good customers, I have to admit.
Customers: About 40, including Chipolte, IHOP, and Captain DÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s seafood chain.
Have you had Chipotle? (There's a typo from Network World's write-up above. I left it in because I'm petty.) Their burritos are amazing. We don't have any in Maine, unfortunately.
Anyway, all the other companies on the list do thinks like analyze data packets or detect malware or keep bad stuff from being done on desktops, etc. Those are "IT security companies." Envysion and BRS Labs are physical (or "electronic," maybe) security companies that just happen to have been launched by IT guys.
I don't think this is just an exercise in semantics. I think it's important for traditional security players to watch out for this and raise red flags with a media that tends to lionize IT vendors and pooh-pooh traditional security guys as guns-and-fences types. There's plenty of sophisticated technology in physical security, and not all of it was created by IT guys with lots of "start-ups" on their resumes.

I had a chance to go to the last day of the CSAA Fall Operations Management Seminar on Nov. 11 at the Boston Marriott Peabody in Peabody, Mass. It was nice to meet so many of you upon whom I report, and to get a chance to learn a little more about the industry and its concerns.
The opening segment on day three, a talk about liability issues and how to avoid sticky situations, was delivered with a little fire and brimstone by Jeffrey Zwirn, president of IDS Research. Pictured above is Zwirn speaking to about 75 attendees at the morning's opening session.
Around midday, attendees were bussed out to Wayne Alarm Security Systems, Inc. in nearby Lynn, Mass., for a tour of the Wayne Alarm facility. Wayne Alarm founder and president Ralph Sevinor was on hand to start the tour off right with a stop by a table laden with fresh fruit, doughnuts, cookies and other pastries, bottled water, coffee, and soda before visiting the station's Antique Corner. Sevinor, showing off his extensive, pristine collection of all things security, obviously has a passion for the security industry.
Of Wayne Alarm, Morgan Hertel of The Command Center, Inc., said "That guy's got the greatest museum in the industry. Nice clean facility. It was a nice tour." Pictured above is Hertel setting up for his talk, the last of the day before the closing Open Forum.
Overall, attendees seemed pleased at what they found at the CSAA's Fall Ops Seminar. Loretta DiVincenzo of Cleveland, Ohio-based Gillmore Security Systems (in the video clip below) was especially impressed with the sense of camaraderie and honesty that seemed to pervade the weekend's sessions, as potential competitors came together to discuss and perhaps help each other solve common problems.
CSAA education committee co-chair Pam Petrow, chief operating officer at Vector Security would have made Phil Donahue proud, roving from one corner of the banquet room to the other to provide her microphone to each and every attendee who desired to speak and contribute.
There was no constricting format, and some of the topics discussed were absent/tardy policies, and the enforcement thereof, as well as creative interviewing/hiring practices, and where to go to find staff when you were starting a new central from scratch. Pictured at the right is Pam Petrow and her microphone facilitating discussion.

The first night of the First Alert conference is always a casual buffet dinner with music. Normally it's outside, but apparently they were forecasting thunderstorms tonight in Orlando. It was a very nice event, and since this is my fourth FAP conference, and I've been reporting on this group for a while, some of the faces are very familiar.
The folks from Georgia, whom I sat with while I was eating, didn't seem to mind being inside. I sat next to Chris Nisinger, who was there with five others, including president and owner Judy Randle from Central Monitoring of Albany, Ga. They get the warm weather all the time though.
It was those of us from New England who wanted to be outside. I was talking to one of my FAP favorites, the folks from HB Alarm in Cranston,R.I. , John Bourque, his wife, Nancy, daughter Andrea, nephew Mike Bourque, and Helder Silveira, a very interesting sales guy, who John hired, in part, for his language skiils. He's tri-lingual in Portuguese, Spanish & English. I'm looking forward to attending an educational session on Saturday, led by one of the Bourques, about dealing with AHJs, something HB is well acquainted with.
Here's John and Leo Guthart at the Ademco/Honeywell Museum opening last spring.
And speaking of nice families, have I got some news for you. You know Bob Ryan, sales & marketing guru extraordinaire for ASG? Here he is:
Feel like you're seeing double? There are more double-Ryans on the way. I saw Bob and his wife Angele tonight and learned that they're expecting--twins--late spring. Bob and Angele said it's not a huge surprise. Bob has an identical twin, and Angele has twins in her family as well. Congratulations Bob and Angele!

On my way to the Honeywell First Alert Professionals conference and killing a little time before boarding my flight from NY to Orlando. It's my first time in the new Jet Blue terminal, which just opened in October. Too early in the day to try out any of the many dining options, but I like the looks of the places, and the mod seating options in and around the terminal in particular.
I read that the architect for the project, David Rockwell (who is also a set designer), collaborated with broadway choreographer Jerry Mitchell in the design. I wouldn't say I was dancing through the place this morning, but I was perhaps a little more fleet-footed than usual cause it's an easy space to navigate.
So I'll be hanging out with some of the top security dealers in the country for the next couple days. I expect to post some entries here and I'm hoping to talk to some dealers on camera too. We're launching SSNTVNews in January, so I've been charged with helping to come up with some content.
Who knew I was not only a blogging expert, but a videographer as well? Gonna have to get myself some square glasses and maybe I'll start calling people Dude as well.
I've got my daughter's digital camera, and I'm going to track down David Gottlieb, the global marketing guy for Honeywell, cause I know he's a video expert, and hopefully he can show me how to use the thing.
In the meantime, watch Sam's promo for our video contest. And then send him a note telling him to stick to writing.
If you want to see some better YouTube video, check out this. It's of the May opening of the Honeywell/Ademco museum at the new Honeywell headquarters. I was there, but make no cameo in this video.
http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/index.php?p=blogs

Busy, busy today, but here's something you'll see on our newswire this week:
Entrance Controls to Purchase Portland, Ore.-based 1Pointe
Acquisition to Create Leading West Coast Security Applications, Equipment and IT Company
You might remember an interview I did with Entrance's Scott Ferguson where he said this would be happening.
Still, this is an interesting development, and the first time I've heard of a traditional security integrator actually just buying a traditional IT networking firm outright. Very cool, in my opinion.
SEATTLE--Entrance Controls, a security-focused information technology company that provides comprehensive security management systems for business has acquired Portland, Ore.-based 1Pointe, a network monitoring, security, and information technology company. The transaction, which closed Nov. 4, makes 1Pointe a solely owned independent company of Entrance Controls.
Good marketing speak, there: "a security-focused information technology company." That's nice.
The combined organization creates one of the largest comprehensive security-focused companies on the West Coast and will be one of the only companies in the nation to offer the full spectrum of physical, logical and virtual security solutions. This includes, access control, video surveillance, monitoring, storage, gate and perimeter protection, and IT security solutions for business.
I'll have more for you on the wire on Thursday. I met with David Pelkey, the Entrance Controls president, at ASIS, and we had a great discussion. He's really got a great vision for where he's taking his company and where the industry is headed.

This is a little bit outside my normal focus on physical security, but I wanted to post something about this just to show you the kind of crazy ideas that are being proposed in the name of "safety."
On the newswire today, a professor from Millersville University (where's that?) posted a press release calling for a "Universal ID" on the Internet, similar to a universal driver's license.
Millersville University of Pennsylvania computer science professor Dr. Nazli Hardy says it is no longer okay to be anonymous on the Internet. She is calling for a Universal Personal ID to restore safety on the Internet.
"Imagine people owning homes and cars and working at jobs under aliases where they create a fantastical identification for themselves - there would be utter security chaos," explains Hardy. "The current state of Internet security is really a misnomer. There is no security. However, there is a way to make using the Internet safe again, a Universal Personal ID."
Wow, if that analogy held any weight, it would be really scary. Unfortunately, it doesn't. This woman wants to stop criminals from doing bad things on the Internet. Sounds good. Does she think that when people rob banks, they have a giant ID on their chest that tells people their name and where they live? Does she think that respectable businesses on the Web don't make it very clear who they are and where they do business? Does she think that spammers would comply with the universal ID law? People who buy cars and steal identities certainly don't comply with laws about providing real IDs when they make purchases. I absolutely can imagine people owning homes and cars and working under aliases. It happens all the time. They're criminals!
Further, when we go about our daily lives, it's not like we have our drivers' licenses strapped to our chests in large letters. We have all kinds of anonymity in our normal day. When I go to a Sox game and yell absurd things at the batter, I'm fairly certain no one actually knows who I am - that's kind of the point. People love the anonymity of crowds. When I'm at a concert dancing around like a freak show, I'm pretty happy people can't identify me and then post pictures of the editor of Security Systems News making an ass of himself. When I'm at the toy store buying my fifth Wiffle bat of the summer, and I pay in cash, I'm kind of glad no one knows I don't have any kids old enough play Wiffle ball and the game if for me and my buddies.
Further, further, this would only give criminals and people with bad intents more ammunition: "Hey, that guy said something I don't agree with online. I have his ID, which gives me his address, I think I'll go knock on his door and give him a piece of my mind. And, what's that, he's got a daughter that goes to school with mine? Well, I'll tell my daughter to tear her hair out!" Etc., ad nauseum.
This constant inclination by well meaning people to strip rights and privileges from the law-abiding in an attempt to cut down on crime just doesn't make any sense to me. It strikes me as incredibly cynical: Let's punish everyone because it's impossible to simply punish the bad guys.
Well, I say, "no." Let's get better at finding the bad guys and punishing them, and keep the Internet free for open discussion and anonymity where it's appropriate. People who want to build their reputations and make successes of themselves with the power of the Internet will certainly make their identifications known, and people who have something to hide because of their nefarious intent will continue to hide themselves, just as they do outside of their Internet activities.

Hip-hop fans (hi, both of you) in the security industry should be familiar with the concept of the mash-up, where a DJ takes tracks from, say, the Beatles and Jay-Z, and layers them on top of one another and splices them up to create a whole new song that may or may not be enjoyable.
Now, IBM is allowing users to do something similar with web applications. These mash-ups take two different applications, like Mapquest and a restaurant reviewing site, for example, and provide you with a combination that gives you something new, like a site that not only reviews the restaurant, but shows you where it is and provides directions.
This week, Cisco and IBM built a video surveillance mash-up:
Cisco Systems used IBM's Mashup Center to build a mashup that lets users convert feeds from a physical video surveillance camera into an app that security personnel can manipulate by clicking a mouse.
I prefer mash-up to mashup. The latter reads like a Massachusetts-based Native American tribe, but maybe that's just my New England roots. Anyway, this kind of IP surveillance design on the fly is pretty intriguing, no?
The IBM-Cisco mashup, which took eight hours to build, also enables users to execute instant messaging chats via IBM Lotus Sametime so that security workers can communicate in real time. In short, Cisco exposed an API to its devices, IBM created a widget representation of it and put it into Mashup Center.
The idea, which IBM and Cisco landed on a month ago, is to take something from the physical realm, digitize it and render it more actionable in a business context via a mashup, a composite app made up of other apps. IBM happens to have a boatload on such technologies and is widely considered a mindshare leader in the space.
Mindshare, not market share, because the enterprise market for mashups has yet to take off. To wit, there are no current plans to productize the mashup. One wonders whether there is even a call for such technologies in the surveillance industry. What would 007 say?
Well, 007 really doesn't have anything to do with modern security, of course, but I guess there is a new Bond movie coming out (love the new theme song, actually - that Jack White can do no wrong), so maybe that's a product placement? Anyway, if integrators get hip to this kind of customization, just think of the way they can solve problems for end users and tie themselves to their customers.
"What's that? You wish you could have something pop up in this situation that would demand the operator send a message to his superior? Yeah, I can make that happen."
It would take away the need for manufacturers to put so much time into functionality ahead of time, and just leave open lots of possibilities for what the end user actually wants to be able to do. It's a very cool concept.